


By the Pale Moonlight

by theFateofYou



Category: World of Warcraft
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Dubious Morality, F/M, Fighting, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, Kaldorei - Freeform, Night Elf, Not Canon Compliant, Slow Build, Slow Burn, Slow Dancing, Slow Romance, Sorry Not Sorry, Spoilers, The ending will seem sad, kaldorei culture, then its happy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-30
Updated: 2020-02-18
Packaged: 2020-09-30 11:22:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,855
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20446325
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theFateofYou/pseuds/theFateofYou
Summary: A young prietess of Elune falls into a dangerous web of threads. Love leading her one way, duty another, and the over arching hand of fate as she falls for the most dangerous of them all.Just a real, cheesy, self-serving piece of Illidan and an old oc. Come enjoy it with me!





	1. Deep into the Mountain

We never get to choose whom we love. For if we did, we would certainly choose wrong. Love find us, runs into our lives and no matter the struggle you put against it, no matter the distance you put between each other, it will never leave you. And I wish, that I had known this when I first met him. That I had not wasted my time fighting, putting the strain between us in an effort to be something that I thought was better. If I had given in earlier, perhaps the outcome of this story would have ended differently.

I suppose, I should tell you the story first and let you judge whether giving in was the right choice at all.

But who am I? Another important question that can be summarized quickly. I was born and orphaned within the same year near the end of the War of the Ancients. My mother was a causality of the war, as anonymous as my father and I never learned whom they were and I doubt I will now. Being of no family and of no name, I was taken into the priesthood of Elune and raised within their halls. It is no surprise that I became a priestess myself alongside Tyrande once I had come of age. Branding upon my cheeks the mark of the crane in hopes that it would bring me peace. I kept an almost aesthetic lifestyle, away from strongly flavoured foods or drink, sleeping only when necessary. Trying to find some semblance of self and peace within the high wooden walls. I was taught my history in a biased eye, and my mentor, Marliah, made sure I did not stray from this path. She tried. They all tried. 

For Marliah's way of strict aestheticism never wrung true to me. I could hear the soft thrum of Elune in the moonpools, and the whisper of tress just outside the high window of my room. There was more built in the underlying creation of this world, and they very being of Azeroth would coax me to sleep when rigid practice could not. They called me Kalligh, Star Watcher, for the way I gazed to the heavens as a little girl. For the way I gaze to the heavens even now.

But, this is not the story I wish to tell you. The story I wish to tell you, begins when I was bid to travel beneath Mount Hyjal. I knew whom dwelt beneath that mountain. The Great Betrayer, locked in a lightless prison far beneath the holy mountain and the great tree. I knew of his actions, of the way he turned to the dark power of the fel and destroyed the well of eternity. I knew his existence was wrong, but that Elune told us all to be in patience. This did not mean I wished to be any closer to the man who would abandon the nature of the kaldorei for something so sinister. 

I had to force the glare from my eyes as I looked up to the towering form of Tyrande, stilling every muscle as I tried to form an answer to why she wanted me to venture deep into the mountain and give the prisoner an hour of company. Just an hour. I was not as successful at hiding my confusion and disgust as I had hoped, but Tyrande only laughed. With a strong hand she cupped my cheek, and moved to push back a loose strand of silvered hair behind the long pointed ear; it must have fallen loose from its braided loops when I nearly ran up the stairs to answer her summons. 

"I understand that this must seem an odd request. But please, Kalligh, do this for me and tell no one of it. I..." She paused, and I could almost see her meditating on her next words, "It is...his 3rd millennia in imprisonment. I try to...send a gift or visit once a millennium, but of the last he bade me never come again. Yet, I know he cannot be left alone forever. If he will not let me visit, then I will send someone else."

I opened my mouth to ask, well any number of questions. Why was it a secret? How would I reach him. But foremost in my mind, and what I could not keep to myself was, "Why me?"

"I do not know Kalligh, but I know that you do what is right. Not what you are taught...however much you try to hide it from Marliah." she gave me a wry smile, and I felt a slow purple blush cover my cheeks. She knew that I had snuck out a fortnight ago for a midnight run. Taking stride beside my saber and covering the forest ground with more freedom than reciting doctrine had ever given me. And yet, that smile told me she hold no anger or judgement over my actions, and I could almost see her in the same actions. Younger, more free, and darting away from her guardian to explore the woods with no care for the world. 

I cannot say why I agreed. Even if I knew him as the Great Betrayer, I also knew of him as a man, and the millennias of isolation must have been torture for even one such as him. And the strong hand of fate, like the moonlight that poured over us, pushed me towards it. There was an inherent appeal and an instinct to accept, and I would not deny it. Steeling my features, I nodded before breaking into a smile that was anything but rare. Despite my youth, already my cheeks and eyes held creases from the many years of smiles that had pressed against them. "Then of course I will aid you in this endeavour, high priestess. A secret kept between us."

"Thank you, and I will keep no word of the many runs outside the temple. I am sure you will find what you are seeking within them one day. Maeve will come visit you upon the earliest hour to escort you below the mountain. She will keep you safe, but he is...restrained. There is nothing to fear." Tyrande gave me one more reassuring smile before walking away as though we did not speak of a treacherous act or a source of evil. I thought of nothing else but our conversation. Well until the moon set and I settled into my silken sheets to rest as long as I could. Yet I would never find sleep, and traced aimlessly the knots and whorls that made up the wooden walls of the tree that was my home. Only pulled from my thoughts by the sharp rap of metal knuckles upon my door and the low voice of Shadowsong as she opened; not waiting for my answer. 

I was always intimidated by Maeve, her helmet hiding her eyes into a steel and cold gaze and I could only imagine what harrowing events had brought her to the woman she was now. Distant, the eternal guard of the Great Betrayer. "Are you ready?" she gave in a sharp whisper that seemed to echo within my mind, and I shuddered. Pulling myself from the unslept bed. I had changed from the standard priestly attire of the temple, part of me fearing that _he_ would grow angry to see something so similar to Tyrande. Instead, I wore the simplest of spider silk fabric, undyed it still shimmered with it silver origin, the careful weaving of spider and kaldorei alike forging it into a in a single fitting robe with empty sleeves. I grabbed my small bag of a similar material, containing a few things that I thought might be of interest to him. I nodded to Maeve once, and she gestured for me to walk in front of her. It was haunting to hear her metal steps echo louder than my own, and I could have disappeared as her presence overwhelmed the halls and erased my own. It was only once we had passed from the busy halls and into the lower levels that I realized she had cast some form of her magic around us. Shielding me from view, and directing any peering eyes back to her. 

We stopped at a guarded gate. I could feel the magic radiating from beyond this point. Thick and viscous, corrupt capture and the pure, ethereal binds that held him there. I pressed my hand against the cold wood, almost like metal, and I could feel the energy radiate in my palm. Maeve said nothing, but I could hear the gasps from the other guards as the door opened of its own accord. I jumped, darting my eyes back to Maeve in fear that I had made a mistake; an anxious part of me worried that I could be the one who accidentally releases the Great Betrayer back into the world. For the first time, despite the helmet, I think I could feel the crack of a smile from Maeve who tilted her head and gestured for me to move forward. "The mountain knows you are here, and you are welcome. An extra security against any creatures that would beat our defenses. Tyrande told me not to follow from here, but I will know if you are in danger."

I nodded once more, curling my hand into a fist and began to walk forward into the looming darkness. Not a single torch to illuminate it, and I felt even the eyes of Elune were far from this place. I stopped as I heard Maeve's voice once more time. "Be careful with him little priestess. He was not named the Great Betrayer for his actions alone."

I had a feeling she was being ominous for a reason. To scare the small part of me that still viewed _him_ as a legend, unable to truly understand what or who he was. Now, I was too find out, and I walked down into the dark of the mountain. It felt like a few minutes, and it felt like a few hours. There was no way to know how far or how long I walked. The mossy, warm stone of the entrance fading away into cold and dark stone. I had reached out, only able to reach one wall and used it to guide my way down into the deep. There was nothing but dark and dark and I wondered how _he_ had not gone mad yet. I felt a form of lonely madness wanting to blossom in my chest as I walked in the dark. 

Then, a light. A low green glow that I had learned to fear even as a little girl when the sky had ripped open and every kind of monster had poured out. Now, it was soft, gently illuminating the very end of the tunnel and the barred cell that must hold my company. At this distant, it was not the violent green I hated and for a moment it could have been mistaken as the moss that grows upon stone in bright patches. Yet, to grow closer I could see the sharp and neon nature of it, and how it spilled from beneath binds of a blindfold and from the wide shoulders that were engraved with ancient, horrid symbols. My body tensed up, drawing my hands to my chest and it took a long deep breath to relax once again and move closer to the cell. 

Closer. Closer. Until I was close enough to see his face within the cell, and I sat down. My knees brushing the metal bars. He had yet to say anything, or even regard my presence and while one may assume he slumbered. The gentle attentiveness of his shoulders said otherwise. Rising and falling and tensing in-between as if he waited for me to throw a weapon at him rather than a peaceful word. The silence gave me moment to examine him. His hands held in heavy shackles, engraved in the language of the kaldorei and kept him bound here. I knew it must be the work of druids for nothing else could keep such a being bound here. His eyes, eyes I had been told legends about, were kept hidden under a black blindfold but still I could see a soft green light flickering under it. Was he watching me? I wonder what his thoughts were in our first meeting? Not very pleasant given where we both sat, but I was filled with only fascination. Resisting the innate need to wrap my lavender, bony fingers around the bars and peer closer to the pulsating source of magic. 

The magic alone felt addictive even from this distance. Bargaining power in exchange for self. I could hear it whisper to me, offering me a purpose I had always sought. To give me a place in a world where I was always the after thought. It sounded...like the mother I never knew, and oh to answer it. To know some love of a mother as so many had told me to want. I had not even realized I had leaned past the wide spaced bars until I felt the man's breath on my cheek. The fel's whisperings replaced by the underlying thrum of power in Illidan's grasp and it left me frozen as he reached to me. Straining against his chains to wipe the single tear from my cheek, falling in my time of stress. I darted my eyes up to him, silver to green and it burned in a way I could never explain. Seeing past me, through me, of me. His cold hand still rested near my cheek before I jerked back. Reacting late as my mind finally caught up with my actions. Already I curled my hand over my cheek to warm the skin from his hand.

"What did they offer you?" he asked, his voice like a thundering roll that would echo over valleys if given the chance. I rested back on one hand, chewing upon my lip til I felt the courage to answer. He did not press it, the years had given him patience beyond measure and if anyone was to know the tempting nature of the fel it was him. "Purpose. Family. Things I craved but did not know. But they stand hypocritical, for I would have to sacrifice myself in exchange for these things and then they would no longer matter."

"I feel your judgement, little kaldorei. How could I give in to the temptation of power? How could I abandon the people? How cou-"

"That's not why I was asked to come here Stormrage!" I interrupted, and he shifted his weight to cross his legs. Leaning his chin on one hand, his one brow quirked in what I could only assume was curiosity. Or maybe offense? It was hard to tell with his eyes shadowed. I sighed, pulling my pack into my lap, slowly undoing the knots as I spoke, "I mean, yes...of course I am curious. You were used as a boogeyman tale to stop misbehaving children. But you are rarely given company, and we have only just met. I am not...No, I will not make you repeat the same testimony over and over again to justify your actions. I am here, in whatever extent it can be, as a friend."

He slowly rose his head up off his hand, and I could feel my breath catch as he stared at me. A smile was trying to fight its way to the surface, and I watched the small struggle to keep his face neutral. His effort to try and remain unreadable was...almost normal and a smile broke over my features. I finished opening the pack and pulled the small, wrapped package from it. I placed in front of the cell and opened up the napkin to reveal the freshly made cookies that had been safely brought down with me. "Here. I cannot imagine Maeve is a good cook, I thought this might be a nice change."

I pushed the package further past the bars and into his cell, easily in reach before pulling my hand back. The smell was already feeling the stale air and my stomach grumbled in complaint against the three day fast I had started yesterday. Another one of Marliah's ideas to keep the purity of the temple, and I would have to trust her word for it. I just felt terrible. It led to me eyeing the cookies with a hungry eye, and I hoped he wouldn't notice. I should have known better, and he picked one up to push back to me. "An unnecessary gift. But...thank you, at least share with me."

It was far kinder than I had expected of him, and I almost reached out for it before shaking my head. "I am...fasting. A branch of aesthetic practice." I muttered softly, and Illidan snorted, still holding out the cookie while picking up another one for him with elongated nails. "This far beneath Mount Hyjal? There are no gods here. So eat. One cookie isn't going to sully a priestess, however guilty it makes her feel."

"You know, I have a name." I grumbled, but took the cookie anyway. The soft sugared treat nearly melting in my mouth and I sighed contently. There was no way for Marliah to know, one wouldn't hurt. Illidan shook his head, taking the same joy in the soft texture before giving a low chuckle. "And yet, you have yet to tell me it."

"Kalligh." I offered, wiping the crumbs off my skirt. I could hear the gentle rumble in his chest, and he picked up another cookie. "Ah, Starwatcher. A beautiful name for one so...dressed in starlight." he gestured to my frame, the silver of my hair nearly blending perfectly with the silver spiderweb texture of the robe. In the low light created by his own fel magic, it did indeed twinkle like stars. I felt the same purple blush from earlier creep into my cheeks, and now began to understand what Maeve had meant before. He was far more clever with his words than the legends let on. Yet, I saw no malice in it. Only the gentle tease of a counterpart companion. "No last name?" he interrupted my thoughts. 

"I do not know my parents." He nodded solemnly, and pushed another cookie in my direction. "Then, I suppose it is unfair for you to always call me Stormrage. Illidan will do fine."

"Its lovely to meet you, Illidan."


	2. Time Unmeasured

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kalligh keeps company with the Great Betrayer

Time was rendered unmeasurable below the mountain. The near pitch of black, all but his eyes and arms with their faint, fel glow, created a space where I simply existed. No measurement of night, or time, or even sound. This, quiet moment stretched for the eternity of the mountain. Neither of us knowing what next to say to each other. He was locked away for an eternity, and I was here as a favour of Tyrande. Neither of us overly willing, and the chewing of cookies was the only respite from the building quiet. What should I even say to him? It is not as though he would wish to know of weather he couldn't see, or wish to hear of anything soft and pleasant of my daily life. Of prayer and books and the gossip of the younger acolytes. 

I had, expected to be afraid when I met the Great Betrayer. For him to be of gnashing teeth, hissing sparks, and violent words. Banging on his cell walls and attempting to claw my eyes out. Yet, all that sat before me was a kal'dorei. Corrupted and fel damned, but still a child of stars. I had only heard rumours of the golden eyes that once rested in his gaze. A promise from Elune, a promise of greatness. I wondered if that promise still rested in the back of his eyes, or if the fel had burned it all away.

This, deafening silence, was unbearable, and I knew not how many hours lay between now and the time Maeve would come to take me back to the world of the light. Illidan had lived in silence long enough. Even if my words bored him, it would be better than the constant glare in his eyes. Or, perhaps his gaze was simply harsh and he stared past me. He must have been able to see far better than I in this dark. I rested my weight onto one hand, "The Lunar Festival was last week. They strung glow lights throughout the entirety of Nordrassil. Floated lanterns along the pool outside the temple. Mount Hyjal glowed nearly as bright as Elune herself."

"I know. Tyrande always comes after the Lunar festival each millennia. I assume it makes her feel guilty." he hummed back. I couldn't help but blush at my own foolishness. Of course he knew the festival was last week. It was all about respecting your elders, and trusting your friends. Tyrande must think about Illidan every year at this time. Her regrets over his imprisonment...Not that it was my place to think on their affairs. Or, maybe it was? Now, that I was sent in her place to keep him company. Illidan spoke again, pulling me from my thoughts, "You don't have to keep conversation Kalligh. The time will pass quickly enough down here."

It was, such a sad thing. That he would want to keep silent, and wait. As though this was a favour to me, more than him. I shook my head, pushing the last of the cookies forward. "I would rather ramble to the air, than sit in silence. You deserve some company, however much you deign to remain mysterious and foreign to me."

I could hear him laugh, the sound almost made the mountain feel like it rumbled with him. My cheeks flushed anew, and I looked away; rubbing at them to try and disperse the blood. Just in case he really could see in the dark. The tease in his voice was audible,"You think I'm mysterious and foreign?" 

"Well...I..." I stammered out, hiding my face in my hands; speaking through my fingers. "You carry this air of 'I'm dangerous, don't interact with me'. Just like all the caution tales told to the little ones. Not that you're aren't dangerous! Just that, you're not as scary as I thought you were going to be. Oh dear, that's not rude is it? Or would it be worse to call you scary?"

The words just started spilling out of my mouth as I tried to backtrack and rephrase. My face turning more and more purple as I got lost in the sea of words. It was Illidan's voice that stopped the spew of vocabulary. "You're really easy to fluster aren't you? I haven't seen a kal'dorei blush in a while."

"Elune's breath. So you can see me? Oh dear." I quickly covered my face, praying that the colour would fade from my cheeks as the Betrayer laughed and teased. 

"I can. Not clearly, but...you radiated magic, and the heat from your face."

"So, you can see magic?"

"Its one of the few things I see best." he laughed softly, and I could hear him take another cookie; trying to be silent about it, but I knew my cooking well enough to know he'd be tempted. His...sight...it gave me a new idea. Something, to show him my sincerity. His actions, were...terrible. Dangerous, treacherous and irredeemable, but, right now, in this moment...he was just a child of stars. One who had missed seeing the lunar lights again. Who hadn't had tasted cookies, or see a woman blush in thousands of years. I could at least show him the lights again.

I clasped my hands together, and slowed my breathe. Pulling upon the soft glow that rested on my skin, in my hair, the promise of moonlight. Elune's love that resided with in me. I drew upon it, and pulled it into my hands. I could hear Illidan pause, a soft growl leaving his lips at the sudden, opposing magic. I would not let it touch him, I had centuries to practice my control. With a harsh exhale, I opened my palms, and the lights danced out of my hands. Illuminating my side of the cage, like hundreds of fireflies. White, sparkling lights that rested upon the ceiling and wall in the pattern of our stars. 

I opened my eyes, giving a few, shallow gasps at the slow, mana drain and I saw him. The Betrayer...winged, cloven-hooved, and horned like every demon I had seen in drawings and heard of in tales. His body, marred and scarred with the fel and it pulsated brighter in the presence of my magic. Yet, he was not, evil. Not the creature I had thought I would cower before. He looked malformed, and struggling, his body not his own. A promise stolen, not sacrificed. 

"How...why?" Now he was lost for words, and I clasped my hands together; smiling wide in my pride. "You can see magic, thus, if I spread the light throughout the cave, you can see clearly."

"You...so I could you?" he almost whispered the words, "And? Horrified by what you see?"

"You are determined to your own misery aren't you?" I snapped, I hadn't meant to sound so harsh, but I could not stand the sight of anyone lounging in their sadness. I reached out, touching the bars, "You seem sad, not horrifying, and I wanted you to see the stars for a moment."

"Even if its exhausting you?"

"Even then." I reaffirmed. Of course he could see tell that it was exhausting. I always had a weak constitution since the aestheticism practices my mentor imposed. Even magic as simple as this left my panting softly, a sweat building up on the back of my neck. It was worth it when I saw a smile fight its way onto his face. I laughed softly, sharing in the moment of joy. I didn't even move as he curled a hand over mine, still touching the bars. He was, warm, and yet despite the dagger like nails, he was gentle. "Thank you Kalligh. The most beautiful thing I have seen."

I looked away, my cheeks darkening. I knew he wasn't speaking of the lights...

"Get your hands off the priestess Betrayer." Maive's voice boomed in the cavern, and I was yanked backwards. I hit the wall hard, knocking the breath out of me as I collided with the solid stone. I gasped heavily for air, unable to breathe in, and the lights winked out. All I could hear was the solid punch of metal to skin as Maive drove back my 'attacker', and the rasping of my breathe. 

I heard Illidan rise, the fel demon's voice booming. "Focus less on me, and more on the kal'dorei you are suppose to be guarding. She's as frail as bone."

I felt a metal gauntlet curl around my arm, pulling me to my feet. Maive again, her tone calmer. "Apologies priestess. Allow me to escort you from here. I am sorry I left you so unguarded."

"No, Maive. Its alright. He didn't hurt me." I tried to explain, but she was already guiding me out of the cave. Away from the fel green and towards moonlight again. To leave him to this, unending darkness. For another, thousand years. How could anyone live like that? It didn't matter what he had done, or how he had betrayed our people, he did not deserve this torturous solidarity. 

"Maive. Wait. I forgot my...my..handkerchief!" I quickly falsified some reason, and in my protest found a moment to tug my hand free. Racing the short way back down the cave, and the man who held such a destiny that I could not fathom. I grasped the bars, and he was suddenly in front of me. Burning fel right near my eye level. He growled low,"What are you doing? Maive has no qualms hitting a priestess if they interfere."

I knew he was right, and I could hear Maive growling my name as she raced back after me. I shook my head, "I cannot in good consciousness leave you to suffer down here. On my faith, I will find a better way. Please, believe me."

"Are you...I am here for a reason priestess."

"No one deserves this loneliness. Not even you. I will return, soon." I swore, and I reached behind me. A quick flash of light in my hands, severing a bright, white lock of hair free. I pushed it into his hands, "I promise."

There was no time for words, and Maive grabbed me. Growling departing words, and I felt Illidan's gaze trail after us. 

I never realized that this, single promise, would lead to the tangled destiny I have found myself in. Nor, do I regret the kindness that led me to it.

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know what you thought! What should I write next, I take requests for a large variety of fandoms!


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